Luling doctor also gets 1 year in jail after porn probation appeal backfires
A New Sarpy woman was sentenced to 30 years in jail on Thursday for killing her newborn baby, and a Luling doctor was given one year in jail for attempted possession of child pornography after his probation appeal backfired.
The woman, 25-year-old Belinda Wells, was found guilty of smothering her newborn boy shortly after giving birth in January 2008. After the baby was buried, it was dug up and mutilated by the family dog.
The maximum sentence was 40 years.
The Luling man, Dr. David Sampognaro, had appealed a five-year probation sentence he received in 2006 after pleading no contest to one count of attempted possession of child pornography.
Sampognaro appealed the sentence because of three conditions of his probation that he felt were unfair. Those conditions were that Sampognaro was prohibited from attending school functions with his minor children, must post a notice outside his medical office regarding his sex offender status, and serve eight hours of community service every week for the first year of probation.
Instead of ruling that those conditions were unfair, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal found that Sampognaro’s original sentence was illegal because he was given probation for an offense that does not permit probation.
“The trial court sentenced defendant to five years with the Department of Corrections but suspended the sentence and placed defendant on active probation, with numerous conditions, for five years,” the ruling said. “Thus, defendant received an illegal sentence.”
According to the court of appeal, a person who is convicted of an attempt to commit a crime “shall be fined or imprisoned…in the same manner as for the offense attempted.”
However, the fine or imprisonment cannot exceed half the longest term of imprisonment or half of the maximum fine. The minimum sentence for possession of child pornography is two years and the maximum is 10 years.
The court of appeal decided to vacate Sampognaro’s sentence and send the case back to St. Pierre for resentencing. According to the court, there is no need to reserve the defendant’s right to withdraw his no contest plea because it was not conditioned on any particular sentence.
On June 4, 29th Judicial District Judge Emile St. Pierre resentenced Sampognaro to one year in jail with credit for time served. Sampognaro must report for jail within 60 days from the sentencing date.
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